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History

The Independent Television Authority (ITA; later renamed the IBA, or Independent Broadcast Authority to cover all forms of telecommunications) was a non-partisan governmental television overseer established in 1954 for the broadcast stations of the United Kingdom. At first designed simply to oversee the creation of ITV (Independent Television), they later took on new roles, such as censoring broadcasts, establishing run times for then-new programs, and regulating commercial advertising on television channels.

With the creation of the ITA through the Television Act of 1954 also came test cards. While not limited to the 1970s (ITA tuning signals were around as early as 1955), the prominence of test cards comes from the BBC in the early 1970s, depicting a young girl holding a homemade doll. Other test cards, made unique to ITA and IBA, remain lost to this day.